Home Office

Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority

Baroness Lister of Burtersett: To ask Her Majesty's Government why they created the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority on 8 November; what were the reasons for the timetable for its creation; and what plans they have to monitor its activity to ensure there are no inconsistencies in decision making based on immigration status.

Baroness Lister of Burtersett: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the existence of two trafficking and slavery decision makers (the Single Competent Authority and the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority) does not result in differences in decision making based on immigration status.

Baroness Lister of Burtersett: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the creation of the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority, what training has been delivered to First Respondents to ensure that all adults identified as potential victims of trafficking are able to give informed consent to a referral.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority (IECA) will streamline decision-making and ensure, wherever possible, that the various factors which may be pertinent to decisions about an individual are taken by those who can consider their circumstances most fully.  IECA decision makers will receive the same training as the Single Competent Authority (SCA) on National Referral Mechanism (NRM) decision making. Both competent authorities will be held to account through existing quality assurance processes and the Multi-Agency Assurance Panels will continue to quality assure all negative conclusive decisions. Decisions will continue to be made in line with the definitions and standards of proof in the published Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance. The data on decisions taken by the IECA will be set out in the quarterly publication of NRM statistics and a breakdown by competent authority will be published once there is sufficient data to ensure individuals are not identifiable. Naturally, we will regularly review this data to understand the impact of the change and ensure polices are being applied consistently. This Government remains committed to identifying victims quickly, enhancing the support they receive and improving the training given to First Responders, who are responsible for referring potential victims into the NRM. The Home Office has produced e-learning to help First Responders to identify potential victims of modern slavery and make referrals into the NRM when appropriate to do so. The e-learning is available through the Modern Slavery Organised Immigration Crime (MSOIC) website.

Department for Education

Child Sexual Abuse Independent Panel Inquiry

Baroness Blackstone: To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how, and (2) when, they plan to respond to the report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse Child protection in religious organisations and settings: Investigation Report, published in September; and in particular the recommendations that they should (a) “change the definition of full-time education and bring any setting that is a pupil’s primary place of education within the scope of a registered educational setting”, and (b) “provide Ofsted with sufficient powers to examine the quality of child protection when it undertakes inspections of suspected unregistered institutions".

Baroness Barran: The department is considering the recommendations made by the report on 'Child Protection in Religious Organisations' from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. The government is already committed to legislating on both matters. We expect to provide the Inquiry with our response within the standard 6 month timeframe.

Pupils: Refugees

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce (1) school attainment gaps, and (2) exclusion rates, in refugee and asylum-seeking pupils.

Baroness Barran: The government is committed to its mission to provide a world-class education for all children, irrespective of their backgrounds. The pupil premium provides schools with additional money to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils, with £2.5 billion being distributed in the current financial year. The government has also announced an additional £1 billion for a recovery premium over the next two academic years (2022/23 and 2023/24), which will help schools deliver evidence-based approaches to support the most disadvantaged pupils.There is no right number of suspensions or permanent exclusions. The department supports headteachers in using suspension and permanent exclusions as a sanction where it is warranted. We are clear that permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort, and this should not mean exclusion from education.

Ministry of Justice

Judiciary: Training

Baroness Helic: To ask Her Majesty's Government how the Judicial College has updated training on domestic abuse since April.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lord Chief Justice (LCJ), the Senior President of the Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College. The judiciary and professional staff in the Judicial College are responsible for the design, content, and delivery of judicial training. I understand that, since April this year, the Chair of the Judicial College, in consultation with the President of the Family Division, has led work to review judicial training on domestic abuse. Refreshed and updated specialist digital training on domestic abuse was launched in October 2021 for all family judges, including Recorders and Deputy District Judges. In addition, from October 2021, new digital domestic abuse training is being rolled out to meet the needs of all magistrates and legal advisers. New training that addresses the attitudinal and behavioural issues raised in recent caselaw, the MoJ Harm Report and the Domestic Abuse Act will be rolled out from April 2022 and will form a substantial part of compulsory family and civil continuation training seminars for the 2022/23 training year.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Antimicrobials

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of antimicrobials in personal care products on increasing antimicrobial resistance in (1) waterways, and (2) soils; and what plans they have, if any, to reduce these impacts.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: The Government takes antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment seriously, as set out through the cross-Government 20-year vision for AMR and the five-year National Action Plan, which has specific and ambitious commitments. Our aim is to minimise the potential threat of AMR from the dispersal of the drivers for resistance in the environment. The Environment Agency (EA) has developed a Prioritisation and Early Warning System (PEWS) for chemicals of emerging concern to ensure consideration of the potential risks of emerging chemicals including to surface waters (both freshwater and saline waters), groundwater and soils. The system allows the EA to sift and to screen any chemical substance nominated using, where available, hazard data and environmental monitoring data to prioritise whether a substance may be a possible chemical of concern in England. The EA has considered some personal care products as part of PEWS, however, only a sub-set of personal care products have antimicrobial properties. To date the EA has conducted screening on two personal care products with antimicrobial properties to understand the risk that they pose to the environment, but not specifically for the risk that their presence may pose to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The substances in the two personal care products included copper oxide and copper carbonate nanoparticles, and triclosan. The EA takes this information to inform its future work or the work of its partners. In broader work related to AMR in waterways and soil, the EA and Defra are running a new cross-departmental project called PATH-SAFE which contains a workstream focussed on AMR surveillance in two river catchments. This will strengthen our understanding of AMR in the environment, including the relative importance of different sources, transmission routes and, what the implications are for people, animals, food and ecosystems. The EA sludge strategy which is due to be implemented in 2023 will also consider the impacts of antimicrobial resistance and chemicals on soil health and quality.

Weasels: Conservation

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to give weasels legal protection and to declare them ‘vulnerable to extinction’, further to their falling numbers.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: The 2018 IUCN-compliant Red list assessment for Britain's terrestrial mammals classified weasels as Least Concern in Great Britain with an estimated population of 308,000; this assessment also noted that there is a deficiency of data on this species. The Government is aware of recent research suggesting the weasel may have undergone significant recent declines. The IUCN Red list assessments are an internationally recognised approach using agreed guidelines, and is an objective evidence-led process. This new evidence will be taken into account and considered when the Red list is next updated.As set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan, the Government is committed to taking action to recover our threatened native species. Our landmark Environment Act requires a new legally binding target to be set to halt the decline of species abundance by 2030, which will help to drive actions to deliver nature recovery including benefitting species such as weasels. The Act also established Biodiversity Net Gain, Local Nature Recovery Strategies, conservation covenants and a strengthened biodiversity duty on public authorities which will work together to direct investment and action across the country - including to create or restore habitats that enable wildlife such as weasels to recover and thrive as part of a Nature Recovery Network.Beyond the Act, we are investing more funding than ever in nature, including over £750 million to protect, restore, and expand habitats like woodlands and peat bogs through the Nature for Climate Fund, and our £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund. And we are introducing three new schemes that reward farmers and land managers for the delivery of environmental benefits, including creating and preserving habitat, and making landscape-scale environmental changes, which will be crucial to supporting species recovery.

Northern Ireland Protocol

Lord Dodds of Duncairn: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether goods from Northern Ireland can continue to use GB packaging or must have (1) NI, or (2) EU, packaging, as a result of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland which requires Northern Ireland to abide by EU rules on single plastics.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: UK officials are continuing intensive discussions with EU counterparts regarding the NI Protocol and proposals as outlined in the Government's Command Paper. These will continue in the New Year.